How do I start a career in IT?

When they talk about working in IT, the first thing that comes to our minds is development, testing, and product. But what if you don’t know much about code and generating 1099 misc form, but you have a lot of ambition and a great desire to learn it all and start a career? In that case, I’ll tell you more about it and get to your goal!

If you have that desire, I have good news – you don’t have to be a developer to work in IT. Big companies and small startups always need good marketers, community managers, and a lot more different and talented people. And no, it’s not always entry-level positions for which you will be underpaid. You have a real chance to build a good career.

So how do I do that?

Chances are you will need two skills to get started in IT: good language skills and writing skills. A lot of material has already been written on how to acquire these skills, so we’ll skip that and get right to the point.

If you communicate well with people and have empathy, you can try your hand at customer service. It’s a great opportunity to learn the market and the product, to understand insights, and to prove on the job that you know how to work.

If you’re proactive and like dynamic work, you can go for the entry-level of a community manager. And if you write well, you can safely go into SMM.

You’ll be trying out entry-level positions and you’re unlikely to be given anything exciting or very interesting at first. Most likely, you’ll be doing signage and small errands. But if you prove yourself well, you’re sure to be given a more interesting job soon.

The good thing about this job is that you will be trained in everything and after a year you will be able to call yourself an expert in what you do.

There is another way

Of course, you don’t have to go to a big company. You can work at a startup with people who are just as inexperienced as you are. This way is a little bit more difficult: nobody will teach you there, you will have a small salary and most likely the startup will go bust.

But working at a startup will give you something you won’t get at a large, established company:

First, you’ll have the opportunity to see a real-life example of how a product is created from the ground up. You’ll be a direct participant in all the successes and mistakes. And on the way out, you’ll get the big picture of how the industry works, not just a small part of it.

Secondly, you will do everything yourself. You will have to get knowledge yourself, learn how to make sales presentations, get bruised during unsuccessful negotiations, and so on. Moreover, you will have to do things that other people on your team won’t have time to do. And it’s not like you’ll know how to do it. It’s scary and the result won’t always be successful. But it will give you autonomy and confidence in your abilities.

Third, you will have a unique experience. As mentioned above, in a startup you will have to do things that you haven’t done before and things that others don’t have time to do. So you will be able to try yourself as an SMM, a product manager, an administrator, a personal assistant, a business developer, and so on. Yes, some knowledge will be superficial, but in the future, it may come in handy.

How to develop further

Here it all depends on you.

You can develop horizontally, so choose a direction that is interesting to you and deepen your knowledge. Unique specialists are highly valued in the market and you can always find a well-paid job.

Or you can develop vertically, by sharpening your leadership skills.

Do what works for you, be proactive, and don’t be afraid to start something new. You are sure to succeed!